Iowa State and Iowa wrestling do not deny the importance of their rivalry duals. 

Any time the in-state rivals meet, animosity, intensity and anticipation get added to the mix. 

Before No. 2 Iowa and No. 10 Iowa State face off Sunday at 1:30 p.m. at Carver Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City, Hawkeye head coach Tom Brands spelled out the significance to reporters.

“We circle it in red. We highlight it. We emphasize it,” Brands said. “Is it significant? You’re doggone right it is.”

Iowa’s Jacob Warner said leading up to Sunday’s dual, “we don’t like Iowa State.”

Safe to say, emotions run high during CyHawk wrestling matchups. 

Last season’s dual ended with an altercation between the benches. Iowa State’s Yonger Bastida completed an upset win over Iowa’s Warner but caused Iowa State to lose a team point after spiking his headgear on the mat. 

With both teams ranked in the top-10 nationally, this year’s dual carries even more significance. It’s the highest anticipation for a CyHawk dual, according to Iowa State head coach Kevin Dresser, since Dresser himself wrestled for Iowa in 1986. The programs were ranked No. 1 and No. 2 that season. 

So far this season, both teams are undefeated in duals. The Cyclones have won 18-consecutive duals and have the second-longest win streak in all of college wrestling. But, Iowa State hasn’t beaten Iowa in a head-to-head dual in 17 matchups. 

The probable lineups released this week feature four matchups between wrestlers ranked in the top-10 of InterMat’s rankings. But while Iowa State’s lineup so far this season has remained constant, Iowa has battled injuries and has not yet put its best foot forward. 

Iowa’s No. 1 ranked Spencer Lee at 125 pounds and No. 2 Real Woods at 141 pounds have yet to make their debuts this year. Iowa’s probable lineup has unranked Drew Bennet or Woods listed at 141 pounds. It’s the first time Woods has entered the probable lineup. 

“Anyone that’s reading the probable and staying up at night trying to figure it out, go to bed,” Dresser said. “They [Iowa State] want to wrestle the ranked guys. We don’t want anybody but the A-team.”

Lee isn’t listed on the probable lineup but if he wrestles there will be another matchup of ranked wrestlers. Lee would face Iowa State’s No. 19 Kysen Terukina. Woods will face Iowa State freshman No. 12 Casey Swiderski. 

The dual will feature two more ranked matchups between veterans and freshmen on Sunday. Iowa senior No. 6 Max Murin will face Iowa State newcomer No. 8 Paniro Johnson will face off at 149 pounds. 

Iowa State veteran and former national champion No. 3 David Carr will face Iowa freshman No. 13 Patrick Kennedy. 

Dresser set a goal when he joined the Iowa State wrestling program back in 2017 to make the CyHawk dual relevant on the national stage, he said. In his sixth season, he has a group he feels has done just that. 

“This bunch ain’t afraid of anything,” Dresser said.